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September 08, 2009

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Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), who took out nomination papers to run for Ted Kennedy’s vacant Senate seat, received a rude wake-up call to his Senate ambitions over the weekend.

At Sunday's Boston Common rally for President Obama’s health care reform, Lynch was booed during his speech by the very same activists he’ll need to win over in the upcoming special election. A longtime advocate of labor interests, Lynch wasn’t even invited to the state’s leading labor breakfast this weekend because of his skepticism towards the proposed public option component of health insurance legislation.

That’s got to sting Lynch, who has a very tight relationship with blue-collar labor interests across the state. An ironworker who served as president of the local union, he parlayed his strong labor ties into a 2001 special election victory – and is looking to duplicate his success in the Senate special election.

But his divergence from liberal orthodoxy could put a serious damper on his prospects winning the nomination. He already faced a difficult time convincing Democratic activists to support him because of his opposition to abortion rights and his 2003 vote supporting the Iraq war.

And now that he’s the only Democrat to pour cold water on the administration’s health care proposals, he’s not doing himself any favors with the base that he’ll need to win over in a special election.

Notably, Reps. Michael Capuano, Ed Markey and state Attorney General Martha Coakley all loudly expressed support for the public option at these same events. Lynch’s hesitation – combined with his past record – means that he'll face a tough challenge to win the nomination.